10 Things you can use a Rock Crusher For

Rock crushers are used extensively in the mining industry and various types of crushers have different applications. In general, a rock crusher is used, as its name implies, to crush rock. The specific and different uses that rock crushers have depends on the type of mine as well as where the crusher is located in the mining and production process.

What Determines the Application of a Rock Crusher?

Each type of rock crusher has a specific purpose in the mining and production process. In addition, there are generally four different criteria that determine what type of rock crushers will used. These include the hardness of the materials that need to be crushed, the moisture content of the raw materials, the abrasion limit of the rock, and the reduction ratio which is what size the crushed product should be compared to the raw material that enters the crusher.

Primary Rock Crushers

Primary crushers are the largest format of rock crushers. They take the raw ore from the mine and break it down to a smaller size that can be processed further by secondary and tertiary crushers. The types of crushers used for these heavy duty applications are typically Jaw Crushers, Gyratory Crushers, Horizontal Shaft Impactors and Vertical Shaft Impactors. They are extremely large in size and very powerful. They can take rocks that are more than a meter in diameter and make them up to 25 times smaller.

Secondary and Tertiary Rock Crushers

When the rock leaves the primary crusher, it is generally a more manageable size and will be transported on conveyor belts or in trolleys to the secondary and tertiary rock crushers. The secondary and tertiary crushers are used to further reduce the size of the rock. The purpose of these crushers depends largely on what the end use of the mined rock is. Ore that goes into a smelter will be crushed to a difference size than ore that that will be refined for other purposes. The types of crushers that are used as secondary and tertiary crushers are Jaw Crushers, Hammer Crushers, Cone Crushers and Vertical Shaft Impactors.

Uses of Mobile Crushers

The cost of transporting ore to a mining and refining plant can be very expensive. Some mining locations are very remote and far away from infrastructures. In these cases, initial mining explorations can be done without having to set up a whole processing plant. This is done by using mobile crushers. A mobile crusher can be a Cone Crusher, a Gyratory Crusher, a Hammer Crusher or a Jaw Crusher, or a combination of more than one type of crusher. The crusher is mounted on a trailer or mobile vehicle so that it can be easily transported. In general, mobile crushers tend to be smaller than stationary crushers because they need to be transported. However, mobile crushers can still be used to refine quarried materials and raw ore extracted from the mine. Mobile crushers can be driven to and set up in just about any location and used to refine the mined core to a size that is easier to transport. Some mobile crushers have a primary crusher as well as a secondary or tertiary crusher. This is particularly advantageous as it means that the rock can be crushed to a small pebble size and transported in greater quantities, thereby reducing operational and transportation costs.

Applications of Rock Crushers

There are three primary uses for rock crushers in mining applications. The main use is as described above, to reduce mined ore to smaller sized rock, gravel or even dust and prepare it for industrial applications. The second use of rock crushers is to reduce the size and or shape of waste materials in the mining process. Reducing the size of waste materials invariably reduces the overall quantity of it and makes it easier to dispose of or recycle. The third use is to reduce the size of the solid mix of raw materials. The purpose of this is to be able to differentiate between rocks that have a different composition. Some rocks are harder than others, so when crushed under a certain amount of tension the softer rocks will be refined to a smaller size than rocks that have a harder composition. This then allows for easier sorting as it can be done based on the size of the crushed rock rather than having to physically inspect the different types of rock.For heavy equipment such as crushers, visit Crusher-Mills.com online where they supply efficient equipment and the latest technology.